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Sun 27 Jan, 2008 06:58 am
Suharto, Former Indonesian Dictator, Dies at 86
By MARILYN BERGER
Published: January 28, 2008
Suharto of Indonesia, whose 32-year dictatorship was one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century, died Sunday in Jakarta. He was 86.
Mr. Suharto had been hospitalized on Jan. 4 with heart, lung and kidney problems, according to medical officials of Pertamina Hospital in Jakarta. His condition worsened dramatically over the weekend and he lost consciousness and stopped breathing on his own, they said.
A statement issued by the chief presidential doctor, Marjo Subiandono, said he was declared dead at 1:10 p.m. The cause of death was given as multi-organ failure.
Mr. Suharto was driven from office in 1998 by widespread rioting, economic paralysis and political chaos. His rule was not without accomplishment; he led Indonesia to stability and nurtured economic growth. But these successes were ultimately overshadowed by his pervasive and large-scale corruption; repressive, militarized rule; and a convulsion of mass bloodletting when he seized power in the late 1960s that took at least 500,000 lives.
As the leader of one of the world's most populous countries, Mr. Suharto and his family became notorious for controlling state enterprises and taking kickbacks for government contracts, for siphoning money from state charities and for committing gross violations of human rights.
Yet Mr. Suharto remained virtually untouchable to the end, even as his successors in a new democratic system repudiated his rule. He was never charged with the killings committed under his command, and managed to escape criminal prosecution for embezzling millions of dollars, possibly billions, by having himself declared mentally incapable to stand trial. A civil suit against him was pending at his death.
After he was forced from office, he tried to give the appearance of a frail and humiliated former potentate, but he could be seen jogging and swinging a golf club at his home in the center of Jakarta. His health deteriorated in his final years and he became something of a recluse.
In his last days, a parade of the country's power elite visited the hospital to pay their respects.
Mr. Suharto; who like many Indonesians used only one name; stepped down on May 21, 1998, just two months after arranging to have himself elected to a seventh five-year term. He departed with an apology to the nation. ;"I am sorry for my mistakes,"; he said. But his quiet statement came only after the deaths of 500 student protesters, an event that shocked the people into a consensus that the president must go. ......
Full NYT story here
A sorry chapter ends....but not its ongoing effects.....
I had been reading about his failing health -- close to death, then kept not quite actually doing it.
Sigh.
What a legacy...
This gives me an odd feeling.
mushypancakes wrote:This gives me an odd feeling.
Because.............????????????
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